Read the original article on the Partnership for Safe Medicines website.
Three senior employees of a pill press company have been arrested as the U.S. House unanimously passes the Stop Pills That Kill Act.
Two principal managers and one former long-time employee at LFA Machines, a company selling pill presses and tableting machines, have been arrested. Federal investigators say years-long investigations have not only led to the seizure of the company’s machines at clandestine labs nationwide, but also allege the men sold products to consumers knowing, intending, or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used to manufacture counterfeit pills. In August, an Arizona grand jury indicted LFA Machines and the three men on six counts that each carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison and fines.
This comes as the U.S. House unanimously passed the Stop Pills That Kill Act (H.R. 8005), legislation that is aimed at disrupting the use of these illicit pill presses to manufacture counterfeit pills. The bill would require pill presses and key components to be serialized, strengthen penalties for removing identifiers or knowingly supplying equipment for illegal drug production, and direct the DEA to develop a strategy addressing counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and other dangerous substances. The legislation comes amid continued pill press seizures nationwide, including 13 states identified in PSM’s latest report and 29 machines seized by the DEA during a recent enforcement initiative.
Illicit pill presses are an engine for counterfeit medicine production, creating fake prescription pills with fentanyl or methamphetamine, which have harmed Americans for over a decade, but also fake blood thinners, substandard Viagra, and bootlegged anxiety medicine.
A 35-year-old Raleigh man has been charged with death by distribution after a 56-year-old Wendell woman fatally overdosed on fentanyl she allegedly bought from him. Jimmie Gerrell McKinnie was already sitting in jail on other Wake County charges when investigators tied him to the woman’s death, and he remained jailed without bail as of Wednesday morning.
According to the Raleigh News & Observer, McKinnie is charged with death by distribution and conspiracy to sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance. Court records cited by the paper show the alleged fentanyl sale happened on June 18, 2025, and public records indicate the woman died the very next day, June 19, 2025.
How Investigators Say They Caught McKinnie Selling Fentanyl
The case against McKinnie did not start with the Wendell woman’s death. The News & Observer’s report notes that the Raleigh Police Department opened an investigation into him in February 2025 after receiving an anonymous complaint alleging he was selling fentanyl. That inquiry led to a separate charge: trafficking fentanyl by possession tied to a February 2025 incident, for which McKinnie posted a $3,000 secured bail bond, court records show.
The same reporting states that investigators later witnessed McKinnie selling suspected drugs to a woman at a Burger King on Rock Quarry Road. The account also describes a March search application that described McKinnie himself as a validated gang member, and it references a confidential informant who obtained a price quote from McKinnie for fentanyl.
A Long History of Drug Charges in Wake County
Court records reviewed by the outlet show McKinnie has been convicted of drug-related charges several times in Wake County, including a possession of heroin conviction in May 2019. By the time the death by distribution charge was filed, he was already being held in jail on several pending Wake County charges, and per the same account, he remained in custody without bail as of Wednesday morning.
Wake County runs a drug overdose prevention coalition that connects residents to educational resources and tracks metrics like treatment access, according to the county’s Wake County government page. The county also references a methadone clinic in North Raleigh that offers medication-assisted therapy and counseling for people seeking help overcoming addiction to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids, per the county’s opioid settlement page.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A second arrest was announced Thursday after an arrest earlier this week in connection with a woman’s deadly overdose in Wake County last summer, according to a Wake County Sheriff’s Office news release.
According to a warrant filed by the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, Jimmie Gerrell McKinnie of Raleigh is accused of selling fentanyl to Jessica Anne Basinger on June 18, 2025, which caused her death.
Basinger, 56, of Wendell, died the following day, leaving behind her husband, four children, and two grandchildren, according to her obituary.
Her friends told CBS 17 News that the community misses her. She lived in the same neighborhood along Pointers Glen Way in Wendell for more than twenty years.
“It was a shock. She had gone through hard times, but she was a great person,” one neighbor said. “She had a will to fight and keep going.”
The warrant shows McKinnie, who was arrested Tuesday, is also accused of conspiring to deliver the fentanyl. Thomas Carroll, 30, was arrested in the case on Thursday with help from the Asheville Police Department, the sheriff’s office news release said.
McKinnie, 35, was charged with death by distribution by sale and conspiracy to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance, according to court records.
Carroll was charged with felony death by distribution sale and felony conspire sell/deliver a schedule II controlled substance, the sheriff’s office said.
According to records, McKinnie made his first appearance in Wake County court on Wednesday and was not given bond. His next appearance has not been scheduled as of Wednesday.
Carroll is being held in the Buncombe County Detention Facility without bond.
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office said the incident remains under investigation.
Records show McKinnie was convicted of three felonies in Wake County between 2014 and 2019, which were one count attempted common law robbery and two counts of possession of heroin.
In February, according to records, McKinnie was indicted in Wake County Superior Court on a habitual felon charge due to his three convictions.
According to records, McKinnie also has active felony cases against him from the Raleigh Police Department. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with a shooting last November and possession with intent to sell/deliver marijuana in connection with an incident in March.
A Boone woman has been charged with death by distribution in connection with the November 2025 overdose death of her son, according to court records and reporting by multiple media outlets.
Shari Rogers Treadway
Shari Rogers Treadway, 66, of Boone, a former nurse at Watauga Medical Center, was arrested Wednesday evening, Sept. 16, by the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant from the Boone Police Department. She faces a charge of death by distribution (delivery), a Class C felony, in addition to embezzlement and drug diversion charges. Court dates are scheduled for Oct. 5 and Oct. 19.
Court documents list Nov. 6, 2025, as the date of the offenses. Investigators allege that Treadway, who had access to controlled substances through her nursing position, diverted Adderall and hydromorphone — both Schedule II controlled substances — and that she delivered fentanyl and cocaine to her son, Seth Treadway, that same day. The ingestion of those substances is alleged to have proximately caused his death.
The embezzlement and drug diversion charge was originally filed in January and was indicted by a Watauga County grand jury in March. The North Carolina Board of Nursing has since suspended Treadway’s license. In its filing, the board said some of the controlled substances found in her home “allegedly matched the hospital lot numbers” tied to inventory missing from Watauga Medical Center. The board also confirmed that Seth Treadway was her son.
Death by distribution is a felony under North Carolina law (G.S. 14-18.4), enacted in 2019 and expanded in 2023 in response to the opioid crisis. The law applies when someone unlawfully delivers or sells certain controlled substances and a user dies as a proximate result.
TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. (WACB) – A Boone woman was arrested Wednesday evening (September 16) by the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant from Boone connected to a death case. The Boone Police Department issued a warrant naming 66-year-old Shari Rogers Treadway. The charge is felony death by distribution.
According to our news partner WACB, the charge involves the suspect allegedly supplying fentanyl and cocaine to a user who died. Court records state the offense occurred November 6, 2025. Treadway has a previous pending charge from January in Watauga County for felony embezzle/divert a controlled substance. The suspect was indicted on the charge by a Watauga County Grand Jury in March.
Treadway was transferred to the Watauga County Detention Center according to Alexander County Sheriff Chad Pennell. Court dates are scheduled for October 5 and 19.
A Boone woman was arrested Wednesday evening by the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office.
Shari Rogers Treadway
The Boone Police Department issued a warrant naming 66-year-old Shari Rogers Treadway. The charge is felony death by distribution. The charge involves the suspect allegedly supplying fentanyl and cocaine to a user who died.
Treadway has a previous pending charge from January in Watauga County for felony embezzle/divert a controlled substance. The suspect was indicted on the charge by a Watauga County Grand Jury in March.
Treadway is being transferred to the Watauga County Detention Center as of noon today according to Alexander County Sheriff Chad Pennell.
ROSE HILL — An overdose death on Monday, Aug. 10, led to the arrest of two individuals, who now face felony charges. Deputies with the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call on Powell Page Road in the Rose Hill area Monday, where Christopher Tucker, 33, was found deceased inside a residence. The death appeared to be the result of an overdose, according to an Aug. 11 Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.
The Duplin County Operations Division of the sheriff’s office investigated the death and subsequently arrested and charged 20-year-old Jordan Bass and 29-year-old Hailee Thompson in connection with Tucker’s death.
Hailee Thompson
Bass was charged with one felony count of death by distribution, while Thompson was charged with one felony count of conspiracy of death by distribution.
Both are being held in the Duplin County Jail under no bond.
